Process and apparatus for preparing cotton for spinning



June 26, 1928. v y 1,674,702

, y M. A. ROTH PRooErss AND AEPARATUS Fon PREPARING coTToN Fon SPINNING Filed July 26, 192e v 3 sheets-sheet l f June 26, 1928. "1,674,702

M. A. ROTH PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARIG COTTON FOR SPINNING Filed. July 2e, 1926 5 sheets-snm 2 Z4 z5 57 f1 pf June 26, 1928. v 1,674,702

M. A. ROTH y v PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING COTTON FOR SPINNING Filed July 26,l 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 /N Vf/v Tm? Patented June 26, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEFlcE.

MARTIN AUGUSTE ROTH, -OF LILLE, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR T0 SOCIETY LE BLAN & CIE.,

' OF LILLE, FRANCE. l 4

PROCESS ANZI) A'PPARATUS' FOR PREPARING COTTON FOR SPINNING.

Application filed July 26, 1926, Serial No. 124,846, and in France March 8, 1926.

limited by the fact that as the number'ofA ends is increased the number of stop motions also is increased, and since the operation of any of said stop motions stops all the dellveries of a head, the eiliciency of the machine is proportionately decreased.

The present invention utilizes the principle that by increasing the number of fibres being drawn, it is possible to increase the draft, and consequently, to reduce the number of doublings.

According to the present invention a large number of slivers are wound continuously, without drawing, on a spool, roll, or core of some kind, the slivers being disposed in parallel relationship and being of equal length. This produces what may be termed a lap, the web being composed of parallel slivers.

Subsequently, this web is fed through a drawlng frame and the entire web is drawn simultaneously. In other words, instead of feedin adrawing delivery with a number of individual slivers, each delive isufed with a lap made as. above described. All the laps are of the same length, and the machine isso arranged that when once started ito erates without stopping until the lap A1s exhausted.

The invention includes both a novel process and also novel machines.

The various features of the invention will be readily understood from the following de scription, reference being made to the accompanying'drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation showing certain parts of a doubling machine provided by this invention Fig. 2 is a longitudinal, cross-sectional view through the doubling machine,

Figs. 3 and 4 are elevations showing details of the automatic stop or knock-off mechamsms; l

Flg. 5 isa diagrammatic plan-view of the doubling machine;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view of the drawing frame provided by this invention; and p Fig. 7 is a plan view of the drawing frame shown in Fig. 6.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 5, it will be seen that the 'doubler there shown comprises a feed roll 1 cooperating with a roll or guide 2 to draw strands of sliver S from cans or other sources of supply. Immediately back of the roll 1 the slivers pass over stop motion spoons 4 of the usual type, these spoons being arranged to cooperate with toothed disks 5 on the stop motion shaft 6. The slivers converge to pass through guides 7, Fig. 5, and thence are fed' between fiuted feed rolls 8 and 9, these rolls limiting the tension on the slivers to that necessary to tip the stop motion spoons as soon as the sliversl begin to move. These slivers are wound in parallel relationship on a roll 10, Fig. 1, the lap thus formed resting on rolls l1 and 12 which drive the lap. The latter rolls are driven by gear connections the main shaft 13.

It will be observed that this machine simply Winds the slivers into the form of a lap Without drawing or calendering them.

The machine is equipped lnot only with a stop 4motion which throws olf the power orinterrupts the drive, but also with a brake which stops the main shaft 13 immediately after the power is `thrown oft'. This entire mechanism is under the control of the spoons 4 so that if a strand or endl of sliver should be broken, themachine is stopped before the broken end can go beyond the rolls 8 and 9. It is thus possible to bring up the sliver to this end in order to preserve the continuity of the sliver without actually piecing it up.

In addition to stopping the machine automatically upon the breaking of a sliver, provision is also made for stopping it automatically when a predetermined length of sliver (not shown) withk i has been Wound in the lap.' That is, the machine is equipped with a counting mechanism comprising the usual pinions 14 and` 15,`Figs. 1 and 2', the inion 15 being mounted on the shaft 16 w ich supports the roll `geared to the pinion 14.. These pinions are provided with the usual knock-od parts 14 and 15, respectively, of the so-called candlestick type, which cooperate "when a predetermined length of sliver has been wound to force the pinion 14 away from the pinion The lmoch-olil1 or stop mechanism comprises a bar 17, Figs. 3 and 4, carrying a fork 18 which is adapted to shift the belt from the fast pulley 19 to the loose pulley 20, or vice versa, this bar being mounted for sliding movement. An upright arm 21, ri id with the bar, has its upper end located e tween two pins 22,-22 secured in a bar or rod 23 whichI is pivoted at 24 to a lever 25. This lever swings on a hxed fulcrum 26. At the point 27 the lever 25 is pivoted to a horizontal latch bar 28 provided with notches 29 and 30 which are adapted to engage with astationary part 31 of the machine frame. AJ spring 32 tends tomove the bar 28 toward the right, Figs. 3 and 4, and thus to shift the fork 18 from the position shown in'Fig. 3, where it holds the belt on the fast pulley 19, to the position shown in Fig. 4 with the belt onA the loose pulley 20. This throws the power ed' the machine. Normally this lintimement' is prevented, however,.by the fact that the notch 29 of the bar 28 engages the frame piece 3l. y

When. one of thespoons 4 drops, due to the breaking of a sliver, the tail of this spoon engages its toothed wheel 5, thus stopping the rotation of this `wheel, and there-` fore of the 'shaft 6. This throws the clutch member 33, Fig. 4, toward the left, due to the inclined teeth on the clutch parts, and thus swings the u per end of the bell crank lever 34'toward t eleft, Fig. 4, about its fulcrum 35, and causes its opposite end to lift through the connections a ove described to` move the belt on to the loose pulley 20.

'As above stated, the operation of the stop motion also sets a brake. This brake comprises a brake shoe 36, Figs. 1, 2 and 4,

mounted to rock on the shaft 37 and adapted to engagethe iniier surface of the fast pulley 19. A handle 38 projects laterally from the brake hub and normally is engaged by one arm 39 of a 4bell crank lever which is fulrumed at `40 and has another arm 41 pro ecting upwardly and bearing lagainst a colar 42 which is secured on the latch bar 28. Solong as the belt is held on the fast pulley 19, the arm 39 holds the brake handle 38 upwardly, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and therefore keeps the brake out of engagement with the pulley 20. But when the latch bar 28 1s released, and the-4 belt is shifted on to rolls 67-67..

out.

the loose pulley 20, the lever arm 39 drops due to gravity, the handle 38 also drops, and the brake 36 is applied by gravity. This brings the machine to a stop very quickly.

For the purpose of causing the counting mechanism to stop the machine automatically, the shaft of the pinion 14, Figs. 1 and` i 2, extends through the upper end of a lever 44 which is fulcrumed at 45 and is provided at its lower end with a hook 46 that normally supports a block or lug 47 'on a lever 48. This lever is fulcrumed on the A main shaft 13, and when the knocked parts 1415 engage each other and force the pinion 14 toward the left, Fig. 1, the 'hook 46 is swung toward the right, thus releasing the lug 47 and allowing the left-hand end of the lever 48to drop. The opposite end 48 of this lever lies between projections of a slide 50, Figs. l, 3 and 4, so that when the lever is released by the hook 46 the slide will have lifted suiiiciently to cause its upper end 51 to engage the bar 28 and lift it far enough to disengage the notch 29 from the frame partv 31. This uresults in shifting the belt on to the loose pulley and applying thebrake, as above described.

l/Vhen the machine has been stopped, either by breaking of a sliver or by the operation of the counting mechanism, the belt shipper or fork is locked with the belt on the loose pulley, partly by the engagement of the notch 30 of the bar 28 with the frame piece 31, and partly by the engagement of the notch 52 in the bar 23,v Fig. 4, with said frame piece, the latter bar having two such notches separated by a curved part 53 which Oilers a moderate resistance to the move-l ment of the belt shifter from either of its positions to the other. Consequently, the

l (LLI machine cannot be put in operation again until the workman or attendant has placed the bars 23 and 28 in their proper positions. The drawing frame comprises inclined 4guides l55-55 for supporting a rod .56 on which the spool .10 for the lap L is mounted. The rod is provided with a Vcollar 57 and with a grooved part 58 which limitsits transverse movement but permits the lap to slide freely down the inclined bars 55 into contact with *the fluted feed .roll or unwinding roll 59. This roll has collars 60-60 which limit the endwise movement of the l Alap L. As the web composed of the slivers is fed forward, it is .directed by thesliver guide 61, this guide -having converging sides and tapered blocks 62 and 63. The web passes between the drawing rolls '64 overanother guide 65, provided with convergingv sides, through the trumpet 66 to the calender Between certain of the drawing rolls an edge controlling guide 68 is mounted for the purpose of preventing the edges of the lap from spreading or thinning This lguide floats freely on the lap an can be displaced with it. The upright edges of. the guides 61 and 65 also control the vided to receive a sparelap so as to reduce to a minimum the time required in replacing a lap when one is run out.

With my doubling machine the doubling or winding of the slivers can be performed very rapidly and with a minimum of interruption, due to the fact that no drawing of the fibres is produced in this operation. In the drawing frame all the slivers are drawn together and practically no breakage of the web occurs in this operation. A draft of, say, 10 to 25, or over, can be obtained in the drawing frame, the machine being adjusted according to the principles followed in operating drawingl frames of the ordinary types. For example, the spread between the drawing rolls and the pressure rolls will depend upon the weight of the entering lap, the nature of the fibre, ete. 4With this process, however, a lap formed of, say, fourteen, sixteen or eighteen slivers, gives ai normal doubling with a single' drawing operation. If one of the stop motion spoonsshould not lwork properly, the resulting variation in the lap would be f only one-fourteenth, one-sixteenth, or one-eighteenth, aecordingyto the number of slivers used. Theinvention therefore produces more uniform work, and eiects-a substantial increase in efficiency in the preparation of cotton for the spinning operation.

While I have herein shown and described the preferred constructions, it will be evident-.that the invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.

Having thus described rmy invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

1. That;l improvement inthe process of preparing cotton` fibre for spinning which consists in arranging a series of slivers side by side to form a web, winding said web h.to form a lap, subsequent-ly unwinding said web, drawing the. web, and condensing the drawn'web to form a roving or sliver.

2. That improvement in the process of preparingv cotton fibre for spinning which consists in winding a series of parallel slivers together, without drawing, to form alap, subsequently unwinding said slivers in unison and drawing them simultaneously.

3. In a drawing frame, the combination of means for supporting a lap for the unwinding therefrom of the web of which it is n composed, rolls for drawing said web, a web guide between said means and rolls having,l

converging sides, and an additional Vweb guide at the opposite end of the machine having converging sides.

4. In a drawing frame, the combination of means for supporting a lap for the unwinding therefrom of the web of which` it is composed, rolls for drawing said web, and afeed roll to engage said lap and unwind said web, said feei roll having collars Yat opposite ends of the feeding surface thereof to limit the endwise movement of the lap.

5. That improvement in the process of preparing cotton fibre for spinning'which consists 1n winding a series o parallel slivers together side b side, without drawing, to form a lap, su sequently unwinding said slivers in unison, drawing said slivers simultaneously and ythereby producing a web, and condensing the drawn web to form a sliver or roving.

MARTIN AUGUSTE ROTH. 

